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Stupid Counsel

"The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The wisest counsellors of Pharaoh give stupid counsel. How can you say to Pharaoh, 'I am a son of the wise, a son of ancient kings'? Where then are your wise men? Let them tell you that they might know what Yahweh of hosts has purposed against Egypt. The princes of Zoan have become fools, and the princes of Memphis are deluded. Those who are the cornerstones of her tribes have made Egypt stagger. Yahweh has mingled within her a spirit of confusion, ...

Shelter the Outcasts

“Give counsel. Grant justice. Make your shade like night at the height of noon. Shelter the outcasts. Do not reveal the fugitive. Let the outcasts of Moab sojourn among you [Judah]. Be a shelter to them from the destroyer [Assyria]. When the oppressor is no more, and destruction has ceased, and he who tramples underfoot has vanished from the land, then a throne will be established in loyal love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges, seeks justice, and is swift...

Send the Lamb

"Send the lamb to the ruler [Hezekiah] of the land [of Judah], from Sela [in Edom], by way of the desert [east of the Dead Sea], to the mount of the daughter of Zion [Jerusalem]. Like fleeing birds, like a scattered nest, so are the daughters of Moab at the fords of the Arnon." - Isaiah 16:1-2Around 710 bc, Assyria is again on the march, and she's got Moab in her sights. Moab is in panic and fleeing south into Edom, carrying as much belongings as she can. Her cities are being overrun by the Assy...

Refuge in Zion

"What will one [in Judah] answer the messengers of the nation [of Philistia who are proposing a military defensive alliance against Assyria]? Yahweh has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted of his people find refuge." - Isaiah 14:32 Around 715 bc, Assyria is marching south toward Philistia and Judah. Messengers of Philistia are sent to the new Judean king, Hezekiah, to propose a military alliance so that the two nations can withstand the Assyrian onslaught. What will Hezekiah, the young king, ...

Rest from Pain and Turmoil

Babylonian Striding Lions, Pergamon Museum, Berlin...

Pompous Pride Laid Low

"For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light. The sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light. I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. I will make people more rare than fine gold, and mankind than the gold of Ophir." - Isaiah 13:10-12 Around 700 bc, Isaiah writes of Babylon and the punishment she will receive b...

Every Human Heart Will Melt

"Wail, for the day of Yahweh is near. As destruction from the Almighty it will come! Therefore all hands will be feeble, and every human heart will melt. They will be dismayed. Pangs and agony will seize them. They will be in anguish like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at one another. Their faces will be aflame." - Isaiah 13:6-8 In writing of Babylon around 700 bc, Isaiah speaks of a time when Yahweh will muster a huge army, attack Babylon, and bring her to her knees. Isaiah's prophecy ...

Please Vote No

To Members of Parliament, I write to express my deep concern at the proposed Conversion Practices Prohibition bill currently before you. Please VOTE NO to this proposed law. I write as a New Zealand permanent resident, an attorney, a military officer, and a pastor. I live in Dunedin with my wife and our five children. I urge you to consider the following eight points: There is no demonstrated need for this bill in New Zealand. This bill addresses a problem that does not exist to any significant ...

Drawing Water from the Wells of Yeshua

“Behold, God is my salvation [Yeshua]. I will trust and will not be afraid. For Yah Yahweh is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation [Yeshua]. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation [Yeshua]." - Isaiah 12:2-3Isaiah writes of a future time, "in that day," when the remnant of Israel will sing a salvation song. It will be sung individually (Isaiah 12:1-2) and corporately (Isaiah 12:3-6). The song emphasises thanksgiving, comfort, trust, joy, and proclamation bec...

The Wolf Shall Dwell with the Lamb

William Strutt (b. 1825), "The Peace" ...

A Shoot from the Stump of Jesse

14th-century "Jesse window" at St Mary's Church, Shrewsbury...

Lean on the Holy One

"In that day the remnant of Israel and the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on [the Assyrian king] who struck them, but will lean on Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. For though your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will return. Destruction is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For Lord Yahweh of hosts will make a full end, as decreed, in the midst of all the earth."...

The Arrogant Heart of the King

"When the Lord has finished all his work on Mount Zion and on Jerusalem, he will punish the speech of the arrogant heart of the king of Assyria and the boastful look in his eyes." - Isaiah 10:12 Isaiah writes to the people of Judah in the late 8th century bc as the Assyrian army marches south to destroy them. By this time, Assyria has already conquered most of the Middle East. She cannot be stopped. Judah is the next nation in line to be conquered. Isaiah prophecies that Judah will indeed be dis...

The People Did Not Turn

"The people did not turn to him who struck them, nor inquire of Yahweh of hosts. So Yahweh cut off from Israel head and tail, palm branch and reed in one day—the elder and honoured man is the head, and the prophet who teaches lies is the tail. For those who guide this people have been leading them astray, and those who are guided by them are swallowed up." - Isaiah 9:13-16 Isaiah is writing about Israel in about 734 bc. The following year, 733 bc, Assyria will take over the northern half o...

Be Careful, Be Quiet, Do Not Fear

"And Yahweh said to Isaiah, 'Go out to meet Ahaz, you and Shear-jashub your son, at the end of the conduit of the upper pool on the highway to the Washer’s Field. And say to him, 'Be careful, be quiet, do not fear, and do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands, at the fierce anger of Rezin and Syria and the son of Remaliah.'" - Isaiah 7:3-4 It is 734 bc, and Assyria is threatening Syria and Israel, who are in turn threatening Judah. Ahaz, the king of ...

The Day Is Coming

“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says Yahweh of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear my name, the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says Yah...

The Lord Paid Attention

"Then those who feared Yahweh spoke with one another. Yahweh paid attention and heard them, and a book of remembrance was written before him of those who feared Yahweh and esteemed his name. They shall be mine, says Yahweh of hosts, in the day when I make up my treasured possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him. Then once more you shall see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him." - Malachi 3...

A Covenant of Life and Peace

"My covenant with [Levi] was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him. It was a covenant of fear, and he feared me. He stood in awe of my name. True instruction was in his mouth, and no wrong was found on his lips. He walked with me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many from iniquity. For the lips of a priest should guard knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, for he is the messenger of Yahweh of hosts." - Malachi 2:5-7 Malachi, writing to the Jewish priests in...

I Am a Great King

"Cursed be the cheat who has a male in his flock and vows it, and yet sacrifices to the Lord what is blemished. For I am a great King, says Yahweh of hosts, and my name will be feared among the nations." - Malachi 1:14Malachi (435-415 bc) was a prophet during the days of Nehemiah (445-415 bc). His is the last book of the Old Testament. In chapter one, God castigates Israel for offering blind, lame, and sick animals upon the altar at the temple in Jerusalem. They are not treating God with appropr...

Remember Me for Good

"Thus I [Nehemiah] cleansed [the Jewish priesthood] from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work, and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good." - Nehemiah 13:30-31 Nehemiah 13 pictures Nehemiah as a stubborn reformer who is doing everything he can as leader to get the Jewish people, and especially the Jewish leaders, to follow the requirements of the Mosaic law regarding re...

They Set Apart That Which Was for the Levites

"And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers. And they set apart that which was for the Levites, and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron." - Nehemiah 12:47When the Jewish people returned to the land of Israel under Zerubbabel (536 bc), Ezra (458 bc), and Nehemiah (445 bc), worship in Jerusalem was restored. For the worship to be done right, however, singers, gatekeepers, Levites, and pries...

The Men Who Willingly Offered to Live in Jerusalem

"Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. And the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem the holy city, while nine out of ten remained in the other towns. And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem." - Nehemiah 11:1-2The Jews had returned to the land of Judah, and the temple and walls of Jerusalem had been rebuilt. Now it was time for a greater number of people to begin living in Jerusalem again. But there was a reluc...

An Oath to Walk in God's Law

"The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Torah of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding, join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Torah that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord and his rules and h...

You Did Not Forsake Them in the Wilderness

"...[Y]ou in your great mercies did not forsake [Israel] in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. You gave your good Spirit to instruct them, did not withhold your manna from their mouth, and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell."...

The People Understood the Reading

"And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and as he opened it all the people stood. And Ezra blessed Yahweh, the great God, and all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen,' lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped Yahweh with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, Bani, Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, the Levites, helped the people to understand the Torah, while th...